Turner: Pensioners have never had it so good

Pensioners today are enjoying a retirement that is better than ever before, according to the chairman of the Pensions Commission.

Adair Turner, who’s report into how to solve the UK’s looming pensions crisis comes out in the autumn, told the Times newspaper that there were people retiring today who had “an annual income, longevity improvements and spousal benefits that no-one has ever enjoyed before”.

His statement echoed one made by pensions minister Stephen Timms recently when he told the National Pensioners Convention that they were receiving benefits that were greater than “any pensioner group in our history”. Timms was booed off the stage.

However, Turner said that the minister’s claim “was probably true for the majority of people so long as people claim their means-tested benefits”.

He warned that when his proposals came – at the latest by the end of November – they would recommend wide-reaching reform.

“We’re not going to simply recommend tinkering with the present system,” Turner said.